The Yankees have scored two runs in two games, committed four errors in one of them, and are one loss from going home. Tampa Bay leads this ALDS 2-0 and the series shifts to Yankee Stadium on Wednesday.
Game 1 Was Almost a No-Hitter
Tampa Bay won the opener 1-0 at Tropicana Field on Oct. 3. Drew Rasmussen threw eight innings of one-hit ball and carried a no-hitter into the eighth. New York’s only hit was an Austin Wells double. The Yankees struck out 12 times.
Gerrit Cole took the loss despite going five innings and allowing one run on five hits with five strikeouts. That is a quality start. It was not close to enough.
Game 2 Was a Defensive Collapse
The Rays won 5-2 on Oct. 5, and the line score tells you everything: New York put up two runs on four hits with four errors. Tampa Bay put up five on eight with none.
Three of those errors came in the first inning alone, tying a postseason record set by Oakland in Game 1 of the 1975 ALCS. Ryan McMahon booted a Yandy Diaz chopper. Jazz Chisholm Jr. threw a ball into the dugout railing and a run scored. Austin Wells was charged with catcher’s interference on a Liam Hicks check swing.
Four errors is New York’s most in a postseason game since 2019.
The fifth inning finished it. George Lombard Jr. threw away a potential inning-ending grounder, then Jonathan Aranda singled, Junior Caminero doubled, Hicks drove in a run on a groundout and Richie Palacios singled home two with two outs. Three of Tampa Bay’s five runs were unearned.
Freddy Peralta went four and two-thirds for the Rays, allowing one run. Cam Schlittler took the loss at four and a third with four runs, two earned. Ben Rice hit both New York homers, solo shots in the fourth and the eighth.
Boone Knows What This Looks Like
“A really rough night to say the least for us,” Aaron Boone said afterward. He followed with the only available message: “We’ve responded all year to difficult times and we’ve got to do it again.”
Kevin Cash, meanwhile, got to talk about the Tropicana Field crowd: “That’s the best crowd noise I’ve ever witnessed in any ballpark.” The Rays are back in that building in 2026 after spending 2025 at Steinbrenner Field because of Hurricane Milton damage, with new ownership under Patrick Zalupski in its first season.
The History Is Brutal
Teams leading a best-of-five 2-0 have won 83 of 93 series, roughly 89 percent. The last team to come back from down 2-0 in a Division Series was the 2015 Blue Jays.
Tampa Bay won the AL East at 98-64, its first division title since 2021 and fifth in franchise history, clinched Sept. 22 with a win over these Yankees. New York finished 93-68.
Game 3 is Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET: Max Fried for New York against Nick Martinez, who went 15-6 with a 3.10 ERA and made his first All-Star team this year, and who owns a 2.93 ERA in nine career games at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees do not have a pitching problem. They have a problem catching the baseball.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.